A story by MarketWatch says that historically low interest rates are spurring homeowners to consider paying down a mortgage faster.

“From January through June, 26% of homeowners who refinanced chose a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to data from CoreLogic, a provider of financial, property and consumer information. During all of 2009, 18.5% of borrowers who refinanced opted for a 15-year term. About 9.4% did so in 2007.”

Of course, you can always just make extra payments on your regular 30-year mortgage and shave years off of it that way, too.

Were those $8,000 tax credits worth it – I mean, to anyone in the country besides the people who managed to snag them?

“While mortgage rates continue to fall every week into record territory, the expiration of tax credits shows that housing demand is not much better than it was 18 months ago, when the market was in freefall.”